The safety of students, staff members and visitors to our facilities is a top priority in the Buffalo School District. We emphasize the importance of safety consciousness to our staff members and to our students. The BSD also works in close collaboration with local, state, and federal health, safety and emergency personnel to facilitate communication and coordination. We receive tremendous support from these groups.

The BPS has a School Safety Task Force, comprised of school district officials, principals, assistant principals, resource officers, and law enforcement officials from throughout the county. The task force assisted in the development of the district’s Emergency Management Guide, a comprehensive plan that gives guidance to school-level and district personnel. The document also helps the emergency agencies work with the school district. Although coming up with a plan for every scenario is not possible, the guide does include problems such as weather-related events, shootings, or hostage situations. The procedures are localized for each school or site and then reviewed and updated annually . The plans include procedures for responding to incidents such as fire or tornado.

The role of parents is critical in assuring that our students are safe. It is very important that your emergency contact information is updated at your child’s school. In the event of an emergency, the best way you can assist is to listen to local television and radio stations for steps to follow. You can help us – and your child – by staying calm and remaining in control.

If you have questions about your child or about your school's safety and support responses, please contact your principal. BuffaloSchool District will always work to make every school a safe and secure environment for everyone.

Employee Safety:  Management Commitment Statement

• Safety is our first priority: While education, cost and quality are core business values, we will not compromise safety for their sake.
• All accidents are preventable and all hazards controllable: All school district employees are expected to perform their assigned tasks safely with a high degree of alertness to the hazards of the workplace. Everyone is expected to participate in the elimination and control of these hazards and to encourage the safe behavior of others.
• Working safely is a condition of employment: Each and every employee of Buffalo Public Schools is expected to work safely in accordance with the training they have received and to actively participate in Buffalo Public Schools safety process.
• Safety is everyone's responsibility: The entire organization - from top management through every employee - is responsible for safety. It is management's role to establish these safety commitments as our highest priority and to communicate safety expectations in a visible and inspiring manner.
• People will need to be trained to perform their jobs safely prior to being assigned these tasks: No one will be permitted to perform a job prior to demonstrating that he or she understands and can perform the job safely. All personnel are expected to adhere to these training requirements.
• Each school, warehouse, maintenance shop, office, etc. will have an active Safety Management Plan that is equivalent to those for production and quality: The same thoroughness and intensity of thought will be placed on safety management as on other aspects of business management and education. This includes setting standards of performance and improvement goals.
• Audits are essential for maintaining safety performance: Management and employees will actively observe and involve themselves with the safety performance and behaviors of others in order to encourage those that are safe, and correct those that are unsafe. Safety excellence will be encouraged to further stimulate performance improvements.

We welcome comments and suggestions from our employees. To communicate health and safety issues to those in a position to take action to solve them, please contact the assistant superintendent of administrative and student services.